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Weiß M, Schulze J, Krumm S, Göritz AS, Hewig J, Mussel P. Domain-Specific Greed. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2024; 50:889-905. [PMID: 36695331 PMCID: PMC11080388 DOI: 10.1177/01461672221148004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Greed, the insatiable and excessive desire and striving for more even at the expense of others, may be directed toward various goods. In this article, we propose that greed may be conceptualized as a domain-specific construct. Based on a literature review and an expert survey, we identified 10 domains of greed which we operationalized with the DOmain-SPEcific Greed (DOSPEG) questionnaire. In Study 1 (N = 725), we found support for the proposed structure and convergent validity with related constructs. Bifactor-(S-1) models revealed that generic greed is differentially related to the greed domains, indicating that generic greed primarily captures a striving for money and material things. In the second study (N = 591), we found that greed domains had incremental validity beyond generic greed with regard to corresponding criteria assessed via self- and other-reports. We conclude that greed can be conceptualized as a domain-specific construct and propose an onion model reflecting this structure.
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Liu Z, Sun X, Bao R, Ma R. Why do people always want more? Perceived economic inequality leads people to be greedy by enhancing relative deprivation. Br J Psychol 2024. [PMID: 38635309 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Revised: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Greedy phenomena have dramatically increased in societies. However, despite the universality of greedy behaviour, empirical research on the causes of greed is scarce. In this context, we propose that perceived economic inequality may be an important factor influencing greed. Study 1 provided primary evidence of a positive relationship between perceived economic inequality and greed, based on data from a large-scale social survey (CFPS 2018, N = 14,317). Employing well-established questionnaires, Study 2A (N = 200) and Study 2B (N = 399) revealed that perceived economic inequality positively predicts greed, with relative deprivation playing a mediating role. Study 3A (N = 200) and Study 3B (N = 200) manipulated perceived economic inequality to provide causal evidence of its effects on greed and to replicate the mediating effect of relative deprivation. Finally, Study 4 (N = 372), using a blockage manipulation design, showed that the effect of perceived economic inequality on greed significantly decreases when relative deprivation is suppressed. In summary, the results of these six studies consistently suggest that perceived economic inequality positively affects greed and that this effect is mediated by relative deprivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenzhen Liu
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Xiaomin Sun
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Ruiji Bao
- Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China
| | - Rongzi Ma
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Mercadante EJ, Tracy JL. How does it feel to be greedy? The role of pride in avaricious acquisition. J Pers 2024; 92:565-583. [PMID: 37311991 DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Psychologists define greed as a desire to acquire more and the dissatisfaction of never having enough, but studies have not examined the psychological processes that underlie and sustain this disposition. We propose that a desire to attain pride might be one emotional mechanism that promotes greedy acquisition. In this account, greedy people experience a boost of pride from acquisition but these feelings are short-lived, potentially leading to the perpetual acquisitiveness characteristic of dispositional greed. METHOD Four studies (including one reported in the SOM due to space limitations) using correlational, longitudinal, and daily-diary methods (N = 1778) test hypotheses about how individuals high in dispositional greed respond emotionally to new acquisitions, both when they occur and several weeks later. RESULTS Greedy people experience heightened feelings of authentic pride in response to new acquisitions, but these feelings quickly fade. This pattern is distinct to authentic pride and not attributable to shared variance with positive affect. Greedy people also feel elevated hubristic pride in response to acquisitions, but this seems to be part of a dispositional tendency observed in response to a range of events. CONCLUSIONS These studies provide a new understanding of a psychological process that is associated with, and could partially explain, greedy acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric J Mercadante
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Jessica L Tracy
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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Hoyer K, Zeelenberg M, Breugelmans SM. Greed: What Is It Good for? PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2024; 50:597-612. [PMID: 36575964 PMCID: PMC10903135 DOI: 10.1177/01461672221140355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
What is greed good for? Greed is ubiquitous, suggesting that it must have some benefits, but it is also often condemned. In a representative sample of the Dutch population (N = 2,367, 51.3% female, Mage = 54.06, SD = 17.90), we examined two questions. First, inspired by Eriksson et al., we studied whether greedy people generate more personal and household income (economic outcomes), have more sexual partners, longer relationships, and more offspring (evolutionary outcomes), and are more satisfied in life (psychological outcomes). We found that greedy individuals had higher economic outcomes, mixed evolutionary outcomes, and lower psychological outcomes. Second, we compared greed and self-interest. We found that they differed in terms of economic outcomes, and partly in terms of evolutionary outcomes, but that they were similar in terms of psychological outcomes. This research provides insights into what greed is and does. Directions for further research are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marcel Zeelenberg
- Tilburg University, The Netherlands
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Deng K, Jin W, Jiang K, Li Z, Im H, Chen S, Du H, Guan S, Ge W, Wei C, Zhang B, Wang P, Zhao G, Chen C, Liu L, Wang Q. Reactivity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, but not the amygdala, to negative emotion faces predicts greed personality trait. BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS : BBF 2023; 19:21. [PMID: 38041182 PMCID: PMC10690991 DOI: 10.1186/s12993-023-00223-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
This study explored whether amygdala reactivity predicted the greed personality trait (GPT) using both task-based and resting-state functional connectivity analyses (ntotal = 452). In Cohort 1 (n = 83), task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (t-fMRI) results from a region-of-interest (ROI) analysis revealed no direct correlation between amygdala reactivity to fearful and angry faces and GPT. Instead, whole-brain analyses revealed GPT to robustly negatively vary with activations in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus in the contrast of fearful + angry faces > shapes. Moreover, task-based psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses showed that the high GPT group showed weaker functional connectivity of the vmPFC seed with a top-down control network and visual pathways when processing fearful or angry faces compared to their lower GPT counterparts. In Cohort 2, resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses indicated stronger connectivity between the vmPFC seed and the top-down control network and visual pathways in individuals with higher GPT. Comparing the two cohorts, bilateral amygdala seeds showed weaker associations with the top-down control network in the high group via PPI analyses in Cohort 1. Yet, they exhibited distinct rs-FC patterns in Cohort 2 (e.g., positive associations of GPT with the left amygdala-top-down network FC but negative associations with the right amygdala-visual pathway FC). The study underscores the role of the vmPFC and its functional connectivity in understanding GPT, rather than amygdala reactivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kun Deng
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Weipeng Jin
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, 300060, China
| | - Keying Jiang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Zixi Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Hohjin Im
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697-7085, USA
| | - Shuning Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Hanxiao Du
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Shunping Guan
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Wei Ge
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Chuqiao Wei
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Bin Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Pinchun Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Guang Zhao
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Chunhui Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
| | - Liqing Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China.
| | - Qiang Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China.
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Wang D, Oostrom JK, Schollaert E. The importance of situation evaluation and the ability to identify criteria in a construct-driven situational judgment test. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2023.112182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
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7
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Wei S, Jin W, Zhu W, Chen S, Feng J, Wang P, Im H, Deng K, Zhang B, Zhang M, Yang S, Peng M, Wang Q. Greed personality trait links to negative psychopathology and underlying neural substrates. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2023; 18:6646951. [PMID: 35856605 PMCID: PMC10036871 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsac046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Revised: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Greed personality trait (GPT), characterized by the desire to acquire more and the dissatisfaction of never having enough, has been hypothesized to link with negative emotion/affect characteristics and aggressive behaviors. To describe its emotion-related features, we utilized a series of scales to measure corresponding emotion/affect and aggression (n = 411) and collected their neuroimaging data (n = 330) to explore underlying morphological substrates. Correlational analyses revealed that greedy individuals show more negative symptoms (e.g. depression, loss of interest, negative affect), lower psychological well-being and more aggression. Mediation analyses further demonstrated that negative symptoms and psychological well-being mediated greedy individuals' aggression. Moreover, exploratory factor analysis extracted factor scores across three factors (negative psychopathology, happiness, and motivation) from the measures scales. Negative psychopathology and happiness remained robust mediators. Importantly, these findings were replicated in an independent sample (n = 68). Voxel-based morphometry analysis also revealed that gray matter volumes (GMVs) in the prefrontal-parietal-occipital system were associated with negative psychopathology and happiness, and GMVs in the frontal pole and middle frontal cortex mediated the relationships between GPT and aggressions. These findings provide novel insights into the negative characteristics of dispositional greed, and suggest their mediating roles on greedy individuals' aggression and underlying neuroanatomical substrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiyu Wei
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Weipeng Jin
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin 300060, China
| | - Wenwei Zhu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Shuning Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Jie Feng
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Pinchun Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Hohjin Im
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine 92697-7085 CA, USA
| | - Kun Deng
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Bin Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Manman Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Shaofeng Yang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
| | - Maomiao Peng
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721 AZ, USA
| | - Qiang Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
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Diferenças de sexo no endosso de valores humanos. PSICO 2022. [DOI: 10.15448/1980-8623.2022.1.38863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
No Brasil, inexistem investigações dos correlatos psicológicos e sociodemográficos da ganância. Este estudo investigou a relação entre a ganância e os valores humanos. Ainda, testou-se o efeito mediador da ganância na diferença entre sexos no endosso dos valores humanos. Os participantes responderam a Dispositional Greed Scale, o Questionário dos Valores Básicos e perguntas demográficas. Os correlatos valorativos indicaram que pessoas gananciosas, embora materialmente motivadas (valores de existência), possuem necessidades estéticas (valores suprapessoais). Entretanto, a ganância predisse em maior magnitude os valores pessoais. Houve diferenças entre os sexos apenas frente à ganância e aos valores pessoais, sendo que os homens apresentaram maiores pontuações. Por fim, observou-se que a ganância mediou parcialmente a diferença entre sexos no endosso de valores pessoais, sugerindo que homens são mais egocêntricos porque são mais gananciosos. Tais achados são discutidos à luz da Teoria Funcionalista dos Valores Humanos, da personalidade das diferenças individuais e da psicologia evolutiva.
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Rodrigues J, Ruthenberg P, Mussel P, Hewig J. Never mind losing the pound… still got the penny! The influence of trait greed on risky decision behavior in a mixed and gain only BART. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 42:1-11. [PMID: 35967503 PMCID: PMC9358376 DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03553-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Revised: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Risk proneness and the lack of loss aversion are two different reasons to show varying degrees of risk-taking in decision situations. So far, little is known about the extent to which these two processes underly the influence of trait greed, trait anxiety, and age. The present study investigated risk- taking in decision making in these trait contexts using two variants of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) in an online study: A gain only and a mixed gambling BART. This was done to separate risk proneness from loss aversion. Individuals with high trait greed showed an increased risk decision-making behavior due to an increased risk proneness and not due to a reduced loss aversion. This is partly in contrast with previous findings in other tasks assessing risk proneness and loss aversion. These differences may be caused by the changes of perception during the gain only task. No significant effects were found for trait anxiety or age concerning risk-taking in decision-making behavior. Possible explanations for the lack of influence of these constructs are skewed distributions, omitting pathologically anxious subjects in anxiety and a restricted age range. The findings suggest that a lack of loss aversion is not a driving factor to explain elevated risk-taking in decision-making behavior in persons with high trait greed, but a higher reaction to reward in predominantly rewarding contexts. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03553-6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Rodrigues
- Department of Psychology I: Differential Psychology, Personality Psychology and Psychological Diagnostics, Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Marcusstraße 9–11, 97,070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Patrick Ruthenberg
- Department of Psychology I: Differential Psychology, Personality Psychology and Psychological Diagnostics, Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Marcusstraße 9–11, 97,070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Patrick Mussel
- Division for Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment, Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johannes Hewig
- Department of Psychology I: Differential Psychology, Personality Psychology and Psychological Diagnostics, Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Marcusstraße 9–11, 97,070, Würzburg, Germany
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10
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I Want More! The Role of Child, Family and Maternal Characteristics on Child Dispositional Greed and Sharing Behavior. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03348-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Greed is often regarded as a negative trait that impedes prosocial behavior in adults. Yet, relatively little is known about the development of greed and its effects on children. We examine the effect of dispositional greed on sharing behavior in 4-to-6-year-olds. In addition, we identified potential factors associated with child greed, including child, family, and maternal characteristics. This study with 63 mother–child dyads (Agechild = 5.11, SD = 0.88, 50.8% female) revealed that child greed was associated with less prosocial behavior in an observational sharing task. More specifically, children who were reported as greedier by their mothers shared less than less greedy children. Having fewer siblings, less mindful maternal parenting style, and high maternal trait anxiety was associated with higher dispositional greed in children. Additionally, their mother rated greedier children as having higher negative affectivity. These findings suggest that child greed is an important developmental trait that warrants further investigation.
Highlights
• 63 mother–child dyads revealed that child greed was associated with less pro-social behavior in an observational sharing task
• Child greed was associated with higher rates of child negative affectivity.
• Having fewer siblings, less mindful parenting style, high maternal trait anxiety predicted dispositional greed in 4-to-6-year-old children
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11
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Dispositional greed inhibits prosocial behaviors: an emotive - social cognitive dual-process model. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-020-00928-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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12
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Mussel P, de Vries J, Spengler M, Frintrup A, Ziegler M, Hewig J. The development of trait greed during young adulthood: A simultaneous investigation of environmental effects and negative core beliefs. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/08902070221090101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Recent models of personality development have emphasized the role of the environment in terms of selection and socialization effects and their interaction. Our study provides partial evidence for these models and, crucially, extends these models by adding a person variable: Core beliefs, which are defined as mental representations of experiences that individuals have while pursuing need-fulfilling goals. Specifically, we report results from a longitudinal investigation of the development of trait greed across time. Based on data from the German Personality Panel, we analyzed data on 1,965 young adults on up to 4 occasions, spanning a period of more than 3 years. According to our results, negative core beliefs that have so far been proposed only in the clinical literature (e.g., being unloved or being insecure) contributed to the development of trait greed, indicating that striving for material goals might be a substitute for unmet needs in the past. Additionally, greedy individuals more often self-selected themselves into business-related environments, which presumably allow them to fulfill their greed-related need to earn a lot of money. Our results expose important mechanisms for trait greed development. Regarding personality development in general, core beliefs were identified as an important variable for future theory building.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Mussel
- Division for Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jantje de Vries
- Division for Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | - Matthias Ziegler
- Division for Psychological Diagnostics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johannes Hewig
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Department of Psychology I, Julius Maximilians University Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
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13
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Rodrigues J, Weiß M, Mussel P, Hewig J. On second thought … the influence of a second stage in the ultimatum game on decision behavior, electro-cortical correlates and their trait interrelation. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14023. [PMID: 35174881 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Previous EEG research only investigated one stage ultimatum games (UGs). We investigated the influence of a second bargaining stage in an UG concerning behavioral responses, electro-cortical correlates and their moderations by the traits altruism, anger, anxiety, and greed in 92 participants. We found that an additional stage led to more rejection in the 2-stage UG (2SUG) and that increasing offers in the second stage compared to the first stage led to more acceptance. The FRN during a trial was linked to expectance evaluation concerning the fairness of the offers, while midfrontal theta was a marker for the needed cognitive control to overcome the respective default behavioral pattern. The FRN responses to unfair offers were more negative for either low or high altruism in the UG, while high trait anxiety led to more negative FRN responses in the first stage of 2SUG, indicating higher sensitivity to unfairness. Accordingly, the mean FRN response, representing the trait-like general electrocortical reactivity to unfairness, predicted rejection in the first stage of 2SUG. Additionally, we found that high trait anger led to more rejections for unfair offer in 2SUG in general, while trait altruism led to more rejection of unimproving unfair offers in the second stage of 2SUG. In contrast, trait anxiety led to more acceptance in the second stage of 2SUG, while trait greed even led to more acceptance if the offer was worse than in the stage before. These findings suggest, that 2SUG creates a trait activation situation compared to the UG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Rodrigues
- Department of Psychology I: Differential Psychology, Personality Psychology and Psychological Diagnostics, Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Martin Weiß
- Department of Translational Social Neuroscience, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Patrick Mussel
- Division for Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment, Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Johannes Hewig
- Department of Psychology I: Differential Psychology, Personality Psychology and Psychological Diagnostics, Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
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You get what you deserve! Reactance, greed and altruism in the dictator game with offer suggestions by the receiver. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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15
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Zeelenberg M, Breugelmans SM. The Good, Bad and Ugly of Dispositional Greed. Curr Opin Psychol 2022; 46:101323. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2021] [Revised: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Lambie GW, Stickl Haugen J, Tabet SM. Development and initial validation of the multidimensional dispositional greed assessment (MDGA) with adults. COGENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/23311908.2021.2019654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Glenn W. Lambie
- Department of Counselor Education & School Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
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Jin SV, Ryu E. "The greedy I that gives"-The paradox of egocentrism and altruism: Terror management and system justification perspectives on the interrelationship between mortality salience and charitable donations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS 2022; 56:414-448. [PMID: 34226753 PMCID: PMC8242723 DOI: 10.1111/joca.12381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/21/2021] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Why do people give and help others in face of their own mortality salience? The existential struggle with the awareness of death impacts the gamut of human cognition, emotion, and behavior. This multi-method research (∑N = 1,219) explains the psychosocial impact of COVID-19-related mortality salience on altruism. Drawing from terror management theory, two studies tested death-thought accessibility, mortality salience, and anxiety buffer hypotheses. Study 1 (cross-sectional survey), using structural equation modeling, confirms death anxiety and fear are predictors of powerlessness and materialism which, in turn, predict charitable donations. Study 2 (between-subjects experiment) confirms the causal effects of COVID-19-induced mortality salience on altruism. Controlling income and socioeconomic status, people in the mortality salience treatment condition indicate greater monetary donations ($), ratio of prosocial (altruistic) to proself (egocentric) spending (%), donation of time (hour), monetary valuation of time (hourly rate = $/hour), and economic value of donated time (hourly rate*hour) than the controls. These effects are mediated by powerlessness. Moderating effects of relevant individual difference factors are significant: the greedier, more selfish, narcissistic, materialistic, and system-justifying the donor is, the higher monetary donations, volunteer time, and perceived value of donated time are, only when the COVID-19-induced mortality is made salient but not in the controls. Environmental and dispositional factors jointly influence vulnerability to mortality salience. The paradox of egocentrism and altruism, as an evolutionarily adaptive protective buffer against existential insecurity for social and cultural animals, can help revitalize resilience, thus shedding some lights on the sociopsychological mechanism of consumers' subjective well-being. Implications for consumer affairs, social marketers, and policymakers are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Venus Jin
- NU‐Q Communication DepartmentNorthwestern University in QatarEducation CityDohaQatar
| | - Ehri Ryu
- Department of PsychologyBoston CollegeChestnut HillMassachusettsUSA
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Evans AM, Rosenbusch H, Zeelenberg M. Using semantic similarity to understand the psychological constructs related to prosociality. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 44:226-230. [PMID: 34749239 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.09.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Prosociality (measured with economic games) is correlated with individual differences in psychological constructs (measured with self-report scales). We review how methods from natural language processing, a subfield of computer science focused on processing natural text, can be applied to understand the semantic content of scales measuring psychological constructs correlated with prosociality. Methods for clustering language and assessing similarity between text documents can be used to assess the novelty (or redundancy) of new scales, to understand the overlap among different psychological constructs, and to compare different measures of the same construct. These examples illustrate how natural language processing methods can augment traditional survey- and game-based approaches to studying individual differences in prosociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antony M Evans
- Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg University, the Netherlands
| | - Hannes Rosenbusch
- Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Marcel Zeelenberg
- Department of Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Marketing, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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Zeelenberg M, Seuntjens TG, van de Ven N, Breugelmans SM. Dispositional Greed Scales. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. In recent years, different scales have been developed to assess individual differences in dispositional greed. We report two studies ( N1 = 300, N2 = 1,000) on the comparative psychometric properties of these scales. We find that all scales are reliable and that they correlate highly, suggesting that all can be used to assess dispositional greed. Exploratory factor analyses, using the Empirical Kaiser Criterion, the Hull method, and Parallel Analysis as extraction methods, were done on the separate scales and all items together. These analyses reveal that there is quite some consistency in the scales, as in both studies a one-factor solution seems to describe the data best. These results imply that these different scales all assess dispositional greed, although the results also suggest that some items may be deleted from the scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcel Zeelenberg
- Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER) and Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
- Department of Marketing, VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Niels van de Ven
- Department of Marketing and TIBER, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
| | - Seger M. Breugelmans
- Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER) and Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
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Wang Q, Wei S, Im H, Zhang M, Wang P, Zhu Y, Wang Y, Bai X. Neuroanatomical and functional substrates of the greed personality trait. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 226:1269-1280. [PMID: 33683479 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02240-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 02/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Greedy individuals often exhibit more impulsive decision-making and short-sighted behaviors. It has been assumed that altered reward circuitry and prospection network is associated with greed personality trait (GPT). In this study, we first explored the morphological characteristics (i.e., gray matter volume; GMV) of GPT combined with univariate and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) approaches. Second, we adopted a revised version of inter-temporal choice task and independently manipulated the amount and delay time of future rewards. Using brain-imaging design, reward- and prospection-related brain activations were assessed and their associations with GPT were further examined. The MVPA results showed that GPT was associated with the GMVs in the right lateral frontal pole cortex, left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, right lateral occipital cortex, and right occipital pole. Additionally, we observed that the amount-relevant brain activations (responding to reward circuitry) in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex were negatively associated with individual's variability in GPT scores, whereas the delay time-relevant brain activations (responding to prospection network system) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior parietal lobule, and anterior cingulate cortex were positively associated with individual's variability in GPT scores. These findings not only provide novel insights into the neuroanatomical substrates underlying the human dispositional greed, but also suggest the critical roles of reward and prospection processing on the greed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Wang
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Shiyu Wei
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Hohjin Im
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697-7085, USA
| | - Manman Zhang
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Pinchun Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Yuxuan Zhu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Yajie Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Xuejun Bai
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
- Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China.
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Sekhar S, Uppal N, Shukla A. Dispositional greed and its dark allies: An investigation among prospective managers. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Liu Z, Sun X, Guo Y, Luo F. Mindful parenting inhibits adolescents from being greedy: The mediating role of adolescent core self-evaluations. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-019-00577-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Scarcity or luxury: Which leads to adolescent greed? Evidence from a large-scale Chinese adolescent sample. J Adolesc 2019; 77:32-40. [PMID: 31605887 DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2018] [Revised: 07/24/2019] [Accepted: 10/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Because greed is associated with various destructive outcomes, understanding the developmental precursors to dispositional greed in adolescence is of great importance. However, there are few empirical studies on this topic. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (CSES) and adolescent greed and the moderating effect of family size. Two competing hypotheses were proposed. One is the scarcity hypothesis, which claims that CSES may be negatively related to adolescent greed. Another is the luxury hypothesis, which proposes that the richer the environment one grew up in, the more likely one is to develop dispositional greed. METHOD A cross-sectional sample of 3,200 adolescents (11-19 years old, 1,712 females, 1,356 males, and 132 of unknown gender) from North, Northwest, Middle and South China completed the questionnaire sets. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted. RESULTS CSES was positively correlated with dispositional greed, and the moderating effect of family size was significant. CONCLUSION The current study provides evidence supporting the luxury hypothesis over the scarcity hypothesis. In addition, adolescent dispositional greed increases with an increase in CSES when there is only one child in the family, while this is not the case for children with siblings. The theoretical and practical implications of the current study results as well as future research directions are discussed.
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Mussel P, Hewig J. A neural perspective on when and why trait greed comes at the expense of others. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10985. [PMID: 31358812 PMCID: PMC6662819 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47372-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Depending on the point of view, conceptions of greed range from being a desirable and inevitable feature of a well-regulated, well-balanced economy to the root of all evil - radix omnium malorum avaritia (Tim 6.10). Regarding the latter, it has been proposed that greedy individuals strive for obtaining desired goods at all costs. Here, we show that trait greed predicts selfish economic decisions that come at the expense of others in a resource dilemma. This effect was amplified when individuals strived for obtaining real money, as compared to points, and when their revenue was at the expense of another person, as compared to a computer. On the neural level, we show that individuals high, compared to low in trait greed showed a characteristic signature in the EEG, a reduced P3 effect to positive, compared to negative feedback, indicating that they may have a lack of sensitivity to adjust behavior according to positive and negative stimuli from the environment. Brain-behavior relations further confirmed this lack of sensitivity to behavior adjustment as a potential underlying neuro-cognitive mechanism which explains selfish and reckless behavior that may come at the expense of others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Mussel
- Freie Universität Berlin, Division Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Johannes Hewig
- Julius Maximilians University Würzburg, Department of Psychology I, Differential Psychology, Personality Psychology, and Psychological Diagnostics, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
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Li W, Wang H, Xie X, Li J. Neural mediation of greed personality trait on economic risk-taking. eLife 2019; 8:e45093. [PMID: 31033436 PMCID: PMC6506209 DOI: 10.7554/elife.45093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2019] [Accepted: 04/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Dispositional greed, characterized by the insatiable hunger for more and the dissatisfaction for not having enough, has often been associated with heightened impulsivity and excessive risk-taking. Despite its far-reaching implications in social sciences and economics, however, the exact neural mechanisms of how greed personality influences risk-taking are still ill understood. In the present study, we showed the correlation between subject's greed personality trait (GPT) score and risk-taking was selectively mediated by individual's loss aversion, but not risk attitude. In addition, our neuroimaging results indicated that gain and loss prospects were jointly represented in the activities of the ventral striatum and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). Furthermore, mOFC responses also encoded the neural loss aversion signal and mediated the association between individual differences in GPT scores and behavioral loss aversion. Our findings provide a basis for understanding the specific neural mechanisms that mediate the effect of greed personality trait on risk-taking behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiwei Li
- Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary StudiesPeking UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Haixia Wang
- School of ManagementJinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Xiaofei Xie
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental HealthPeking UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Jian Li
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental HealthPeking UniversityBeijingChina
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Seuntjens TG, Zeelenberg M, van de Ven N, Breugelmans SM. Greedy bastards: Testing the relationship between wanting more and unethical behavior. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Dispositional Greed Scale and a portrait of greedy people. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2018.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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